UK banker pleads not guilty to murder in Hong Kong trial

[webfact]

UK banker pleads not guilty to murder in Hong Kong trial 
KELVIN CHAN, Associated Press

 

HONG KONG (AP) — The Hong Kong trial of a British banker accused of the grisly 2014 killings of two Indonesian women is expected to be "particularly horrifying," including photographic evidence of one victim's torture, the judge told prospective jurors as the case got underway Monday.

 

The banker, Rurik Jutting, entered a plea of not guilty to two murder charges that were read out at the High Court, with prosecutors rejecting his attempt to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

 

Jutting is charged with the murders of Sumarti Ningsih and Seneng Mujiasih, whose bodies were found in his upscale apartment near the Asian financial center's Wan Chai red-light district, in a case expected to highlight the Asian financial hub's inequality and privileged lifestyle of its wealthy expat elite.

 

Jutting, who wore a dark blue shirt, glasses and looked a lot slimmer than in his court appearances last year, was put into a glass-screened dock when he arrived in the court. When the clerk asked what his plea was to the two murder charge, he replied "not guilty to murder by reason of diminished responsibility but guilty of manslaughter," which the prosecutors refused to accept, meaning the trial on the murder charges will proceed.

 

A third charge was also read out, unlawful burial of Sumarti Ningsih's body, to which he pleaded guilty. Her body was found stuffed in a suitcase left in a balcony while Seneng Mujiasih's body had knife wounds on the neck and buttock, according to initial police reports.

 

Judge Michael Stuart-Moore said to jurors before the selection began that there were "particularly horrifying aspect to this case, with one victim subject to extreme violence and cruelty amounting to torture," before she died.

 

He said the evidence includes color photographs that "are not pleasant photographs to look at. They are extremely upsetting. The defendant even recorded on his iPhone part of the torture he inflicted on his victim," which will be shown to the jurors.

 

"Much of what the jury will see or hear is very disturbing indeed," he said, but added that the Jutting is entitled to a fair trial.

 

While Jutting's initial guilty manslaughter plea was rejected, the judge told jurors that they could still decide between finding him guilty of murder or manslaughter.

 

Jutting is a Cambridge University graduate who worked for Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in structured equity finance and trading. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

 

The case shocked the former British colony, which has a reputation for being safe, while also highlighting the city's extreme inequality.

 

The victims had originally come to Hong Kong as foreign maids. But Seneng had let her domestic worker visa lapse and Sumarti had returned on a tourist visa.

 

They were among the more than 300,000 migrant domestic workers employed in Hong Kong, almost all of them women from Indonesia or the Philippines.

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-10-24

[bangon04]

" whose bodies were found in his upscale apartment near the Asian financial center's Wan Chai red-light district, in a case expected to highlight the Asian financial hub's inequality and privileged lifestyle of its wealthy expat elite. "

So were they actually sex workers or random members of the public?

[phantomfiddler]

How can he possibly sit there and say "Not guilty" ! What a total s**t of an apology for a man ! This animal should be hung.

[dunroaming]

Whether they were sex workers or not is irrelevant.  This guy should be hung out to dry.  I lived in Hong Kong and met a lot of the ex-pats there.  Definitely among the most arrogant obnoxious group of ex-pats I ever met anywhere.

[Grubster]

Is that a common name in the UK?

[MJP]

4 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

How can he possibly sit there and say "Not guilty" ! What a total s**t of an apology for a man ! This animal should be hung.

 

They won't hang him.

 

They'll shoot him.

[MJP]

Yee gawds!

 

British banker Rurik Jutting tortured victim for three days, court told

Quote

British banker Rurik Jutting allegedly subjected a 23-year-old Indonesian woman to three days of torture that he filmed on his mobile phone before killing her and another woman at his luxury Hong Kong apartment, a court has heard.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/24/british-banker-rurik-jutting-tortured-victim-three-days-hong-kong-court-told

Edited October 24, 2016 by MJP

[Prbkk]

Some very talented expats work(ed) in HK; however, there was a certain type that gravitated to the colony, historically the black sheep sent off to make something of themselves; another group in search of the remnants of the Suzie Wong scene, also the FILTH ( Failed In London, Try Hong Kong). Financial Services is something of a magnet to these types.

[MJP]

13 minutes ago, Prbkk said:

Some very talented expats work(ed) in HK; however, there was a certain type that gravitated to the colony, historically the black sheep sent off to make something of themselves; another group in search of the remnants of the Suzie Wong scene, also the FILTH ( Failed In London, Try Hong Kong). Financial Services is something of a magnet to these types.

 

I think you just hurt a certain persons feelings. 

[gk10002000]

wow.  So he admits to killing them, but tried to claim some sort of diminished capacity.  Good luck with that. Crimes of passion, temporary insanity, can be viable defenses, and can lead to reduced charges or sentences.  But when you kill two people?  Over what period of time did he do that?  The same day?  The same hour? 

[Prbkk]

16 hours ago, MJP said:

 

I think you just hurt a certain persons feelings. 

 

No, I only use that term in respect of the bankers ( although chefs would also qualify in significant numbers)

[Gecko123]

Murder is murder.

[Grouse]

On 24/10/2016 at 3:15 PM, bangon04 said:

" whose bodies were found in his upscale apartment near the Asian financial center's Wan Chai red-light district, in a case expected to highlight the Asian financial hub's inequality and privileged lifestyle of its wealthy expat elite. "

So were they actually sex workers or random members of the public?

 

Does that make a damn of difference?